AVP Denver Tour Series men’s field attracts stars old and young, local and foreign

It is mostly assumed that Tour Series events, the lowest rung on the AVP’s three-tiered hierarchy, lack certain starpower. That the best players will sit, or simply play something else. And, mostly, these assumptions aren’t incorrect.

This weekend’s Tour Series in Denver, Colorado, hosted at The Island, however, is a bit different.

The women’s side closely resembles next weekend’s Pro Series in Hermosa Beach, and while the men’s Denver field looks quite different from that in Hermosa, it’s still loaded with stars local and foreign, young and old. Below is a list of several of those stars, and several who might be below the radar but should be noted.

Bill Kolinske, John Hyden

The Ageless Wonder remains ageless. John Hyden, at 50 years old, is still a favorite to contend in every tournament he plays. This in spite of the fact that he was competing in the Olympic Games before many of his competitors were even alive — see: Caleb Kwekel, Dylan Zacca, Jordan Hoppe, Charlie Siragusa, the list only gets longer every year. Hyden’s last event resulted in a final in Central Florida with Tri Bourne. Maybe you were surprised. I am no longer surprised by anything Hyden does. Now back with Bill Kolinske — they played one event, a four-star in Chetumal, Mexico in 2020, and had plans to play more until COVID struck — Hyden could very well make another main draw in Atlanta, pick up some Gold Series points, and retire sometime in 2057.

Brenden Sander, Taylor Sander

The bona fides of Taylor Sander, at this point, are quite well known. Long one of the best outside hitters in the world, Sander returned to the beach, got scooped up by Taylor Crabb, and promptly enjoyed the most successful rookie season for a male in AVP history. He was named Rookie of the Year and Best Server, and closed the 2022 season with a victory at the AVP Phoenix Championships. Little brother Brenden might not have the resume of Taylor, but he has talent aplenty. Like Taylor, Brenden went to BYU and twice made the National Championships. He then went on to play in Italy, Poland, Qatar, and Greece, and has since been training under Jose Loiola and the USA Volleyball developmental program. In his only tournament on the beach, he and Taylor finished fifth in last year’s Laguna Beach Open, upsetting a number of teams along the way.

JM Plummer, Ryan Smith

Plummer put himself on the map last year with an excellent 2022, finishing fifth in Denver before taking third in Virginia Beach, fifth in Huntington Beach, and another fifth in the Central Florida Pro Series, adding main draws in Fort Lauderdale and Manhattan Beach as well. In limited outings this year, he’s been just as good, taking a third a few weeks ago in Virginia Beach with Lev Priima, which punched their ticket to Hermosa. Smith has yet to have his breakthrough, but at 21 years old, that’s more expected than not. He was close last year in Denver, partnering with Nate Yang and finishing ninth. But he took down 12^th-seeded Chris Vaughan and Jeff Samuels and 13^th-seeded Avery Drost and David Lee in the process. It makes sense that he’d have success in Denver; a native of Parker, he’ll be plenty used to the altitude and the subtle impacts it has on serving and cardio.

Lars Basey, Gage Basey

The Baseys, despite losing both main draw matches, were arguably last year’s biggest surprise when they stunned Jake Dietrich and Hagen Smith in the final round of the qualifier (one week later, Dietrich and Smith would finish fifth in Hermosa Beach, shocking Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb in the first round of the main draw and then upsetting Billy Allen and Jeremy Casebeer in the next). Like Ryan Smith, they’re local players, based out of Lyons. In most AVP tournaments, there is little to no advantage to being a local, other than maybe having a bigger and louder fanbase. Such is not the case in Denver, where serving and passing are a different beast at the altitude. It shouldn’t come as a surprise if the Baseys upset a few more teams, especially with a bit more experience on the resume.

Alex Biz, Alek Ukkelberg

Biz and Ukkelberg are coming off a main draw at the Virginia Beach Tour Series, and their road to get there was no easy one, requiring a pair of three-set wins over talented teams in Nick Drooker and Brett Rosenmeier, and Andrew Holman and TJ Jurko. They were a bit flat in the main draw, dropping both matches in pool play, but the potential is there, and in Tour Series events, where the talent gap between main draw and qualifier is minimal at most, they have all the tools needed to make a run.

Ric Cervantes, Will Rottman

Since serving tough is more difficult in Denver than at any other stop on the AVP, teams will be in system more often than not. As such, having a defender who can dig high-level in-system swings is almost a requirement. Cervantes is that defender. While at Hawaii, he led the team in digs in three seasons, setting the match (28), season (342) and career records (936) for digs. He might be 35 years old now, but he can still scoop. Rottman, too, should provide a solid block for Cervantes. He’s a 6-foot-5 outside hitter for Stanford, and might have the biggest arm in the entire tournament.

Cody Caldwell, Ryan Meehan

Caldwell is at once having the best season of his career and, in many ways, the most amusing. He began the year in Miami, one week after returning from an indoors stint in India, and took a third with Chase Frishman. Then they did it again in New Orleans, zipped over to Mexico and won a NORCECA, where they upset Mexico’s No. 1 team in Juan Virgen and Miguel Sarabia. But Caldwell and Frishman have since split, and Caldwell hasn’t slowed much, winning Pottstown — and the $10,000 split — with Jake Urrutia last weekend. He’s already straight into the Atlanta Gold Series, so he’s playing with a good friend in Ryan Meehan, a 6-foot-8 34-year-old with a gigantic arm and a single AVP main draw to his name, back in Chicago of 2018. They are unlikely contenders to win, but they’ll be a fun team, could beat anyone, and the vibes will be spectacular.

Jeremy Casebeer, Alvaro Filho

Absolute land mine right here. Casebeer and Filho, a Brazilian who finished fifth in the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games alongside Alison Cerutti, are easily a top-five team in this tournament…and they’re buried in the middle of the qualifier. Alvaro hasn’t played professionally since he and Evandro split up after the 2022 Gstaad Elite16, but ask anyone who has played against him and they’ll be the first to tell you that he’s still one of the best defenders in the world. Filho was the FIVB Rookie of the Year in 2013 and won 15 medals in a 10-year career representing Brazil. Denver will mark his first of potentially many AVP tournaments, doing so alongside an AVP champ in Casebeer, who finished fifth in his only AVP this season, in Miami with Seain Cook.